Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz and John C. Reilly star in the deliciously bizarre new film from Greek auteur Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth, ALPS), about a curious hotel where the residents are charged with finding a new mate within 45 days — under penalty of being transformed into animals should they fail.

The Lobster

Yorgos Lanthimos

Year

2015

Runtime

119 min

Language

English, French

Country

Netherlands, France, Greece, United Kingdom, Ireland

Principal Cast

Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, John C. Reilly, Léa Seydoux, Ben Whishaw

Winner of the Jury Prize at this year's
Cannes, the new film from Greek auteur
Yorgos Lanthimos is another journey into
one of his singular universes. As in the director's
previous films Dogtooth and ALPS,
the world of The Lobster is governed by
absurd laws that provoke bizarre behaviour
by its inhabitants. Beneath the madness
Lanthimos locates a profound emotional
core of yearning, pain, love, and loss.

As the film begins, David (Colin Farrell)
has just been left by his wife. This means
that, as with all those in this society who are
without a partner — for whatever reason, be
it death, divorce, or a simple breakup — he
must report to a secluded hotel and search
for a new mate amongst the other residents.
If the guests fail to find a partner within
forty-five days, they are promptly transformed
into animals and sent out into the wild. (As
he likes the sea, David registers to become a
lobster in case of failure to hook up.)

Though David at first tries to abide by the
rules, he soon becomes appalled by the hotel's
rigidly enforced regime and escapes into the
woods, where he finds shelter with a band
of runaways who have rebelled against their
society's monogamous order — and is drawn to
a fellow outcast, the "Short-Sighted Woman"
(Rachel Weisz, also at the Festival in Youth).

Making his first English-language
feature and working with a star-filled
international cast — which includes John
C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw (also at the Festival
in The Danish Girl), Léa Seydoux, and his
marvellous past collaborators Ariane Labed
and Angeliki Papoulia — Lanthimos not
only preserves but enhances the unique
mood, tone, and imaginative freedom of his
previous works. The Lobster is one of the
year's most remarkable films.